Leuthold Preparatory | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Observatory

Two hours passed before Ines rounded the front of the building with a shiny, blue sedan with black wheels. After some time, it had been decided that Eloise and Aya had to stay behind, both to care for the animals and because they were the youngest of the girls. Celeste and Ines hugged them for a long while after Hannil and Noah managed to fit themselves into the backseat of the crowded car that was equally as cluttered and dirty as their living space. The outside had looked new, but Noah felt the car was much older than he had suspected.

    "Are you certain about them?" Noah anxiously asked.

    Hannil had been putting his seatbelt on, it was so dark that Noah could hardly see him sitting to his right. For a minute, he was silent until he sighed softly.

    "Yes," he finally answered.

    "Why the long pause?"

    "I wanted to give you an honest answer. I needed to think if I was certain. As I said before, I could betray you at any moment."

    "Not funny," Noah replied before he moved to put his own seatbelt on.

    Hannil leaned back into the cloth seats before he reached over and tapped Noah's leg.

    "What?" Noah whispered.

    "I'm not going to betray you," he told him.

    "I didn't think you actually were."

    "Yeah, but you have some really bad anxiety and trust issues."

    Noah frowned.

    Hannil snickered.

    "I hate that you tease me like that!" Noah hissed as he let go of his seatbelt to mockingly threaten to hit Hannil, who only laughed at his actions.

    "You do, though!" He replied, "I thought I had bad anxiety but you actually have pulling-your-hair-out anxiety."

    "Thank you, thank you," Noah replied dryly.

    "I'll take care of you, Squeak, don't worry about that." Hannil's voice was so honest that Noah looked back at him. He could make out the silhouette of his features and the gold of his skin in the streetlight far beyond them.

    "I wish I could say that same but I'm kind of useless," Noah said.

    Hannil snickered, "I told you to stop being funny."

    Their conversation stopped when Celeste opened the passenger door and got into the seat with a cigarette, designer bag, and a few tears on her cheeks. She spoke in French through the open door to the girls outside that were also crying. Ines came around to the driver door and seemed only a bit less upset by their leaving.

    Celeste blew the girls kisses after she shut the door and leaned her head out of the window to still call to them in French, she promised to return to them, to take them to what Noah was learning was called the Green City. "La Ville de Vert!" the two girls left behind cheered after the car.

    "Are you alright?" Noah asked after Ines had started driving and Celeste kept crying.

    "I cry well," Celeste answered. "How you say, crybaby?"

    Noah nodded a little, "Yeah."

    "We haven't been separated in three years," Celeste explained.

    Noah sunk a little into his seat. He felt ashamed suddenly of separating them, he wondered if he could somehow help them. Get a different car. Find another way.